


Not While I'm Around

by LuthienLuinwe



Series: Batfam Bingo 2019 [5]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, batfam bingo, fear toxin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 09:10:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19742578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuthienLuinwe/pseuds/LuthienLuinwe
Summary: For the Batfam Bingo fill "Terrify."“Why us?” he asked, voice scared and broken and small.Babs shut her eyes tightly, still holding him close. Unsure how to answer the question she’d asked herself countless times. Unsure if there was even an answer to be given at all.“Why did it have to be us?”Jason gets hit with fear toxin, and Barbara is called in to help.





	Not While I'm Around

Jason was writhing on the floor of the cave by the time Barbara arrived. He was dressed in his civvies. Tight, dark red t-shirt and cargo pants. His hands were pulling at his hair. And, much as she hated to admit it, she couldn’t help but think it would have been better if he were screaming.

Dick stood beside Jason, a hand running through his hair. His eyes darted over to Barbara, and she could see a sense of relief flood over him. “We didn’t know who else to call.”

“What happened?” she demanded, wheeling over to Jason’s side. His eyes were screwed shut, his breathing erratic.

“Scarecrow happened,” Dick sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

The new strain of fear toxin was particularly nasty. Reports of attacks had been flooding the news for days. Mass panic. Hysteria. It was a wonder Gotham was still standing. Few things caused chaos quite like fear did.

And God only knew what was going on in Jason’s head.

“Help me get beside him,” she demanded, and Dick wasted no time helping her get to the ground.

She lay beside Jason, keeping her arms beside her, at least for now. The last thing they needed was for her to make it worse. For any of them to make it worse. He whimpered softly, and she fought the urge to rub his back. To tell him that everything was okay. That he was safe here. That she wasn’t going to let anything happen to him ever again.

“Did you at least get the antidote?” she asked, glancing up at Dick.

“I’m not a complete idiot, you know,” Dick glared. “Believe it or not, he’s in better shape now than he was when I found him.”

“I believe it,” Babs shut her eyes and took a breath before opening them again. Jason had curled up on his side and hugged himself so tightly his knuckles had turned white. “Hey, Jay,” she spoke softly, using a tone people usually reserved for coaxing scared animals out of their hiding places. “I’m going to sit here with you, okay?”

Jason’s eyes snapped open and stared directly at her, if only for a moment. And for a second, just a second, fear had given way to recognition, and he had nodded slightly.

She started to reach for his hand, but pulled back when he jerked away, screwing his eyes shut again. “It’s okay,” she soothed and tilted her head up to look at Dick. “Can you give him another dose?”

“Not without killing him,” Dick shook his head and folded his arms over his chest.

“Sedatives?”

“We don’t know if it’ll interact with the new strain.”

Babs shook her head and swore, her heart sinking in her chest when she saw Jason shaking like a leaf. Nothing they could do but wait it out and hope for the best. “Can you give us some space?” she asked Dick, not turning her gaze away from Jason.

“Okay,” she heard Dick breathe, followed by footsteps heading toward the exit.

“Just us, Jay,” she turned to face him better. “Just you and me. We’re okay. It’s all okay.”

“Make it stop,” Jason whimpered and dug his nails into his arms hard enough to draw blood. Babs had to stop herself from grabbing him by the wrists to make him stop. Trust with Jason was tricky. Always had been. He’d flinched away when she’d tried to take his hand. She wasn’t going to risk him completely shutting her out. Not when she was the only one who could help.

“I want to.” God she wanted to. Hadn't the poor boy gone through enough already? He didn’t deserve this. No one deserved this. “But you have to tell me what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours.”

She watched, helpless to do anything, as Jason shook his head violently. His eyes snapped open and he looked straight at her, and Babs hated how young and scared he looked. How much raw  _ hurt  _ she saw in those eyes. “Please just make it stop.”

She tensed in surprise when Jason latched onto her, but quickly tried to relax as she wrapped his arms around him, holding him tight.

She wasn’t sure how long they lay there. If it had been minutes or hours. She had held him tight and let him cry it out, whispering that he was safe. That he was okay. That it was all over.

It had seemed an eternity before he finally looked up at her, eyes clear and lucid. “Hey,” she spoke softly, threading her fingers through his hair, hoping that she could keep him with her. Keep him in the present. Keep the bad thoughts far away. “Are you with me?”

He nodded slightly before burying his face in her shoulder.

Sometimes Babs wondered if she was the only one who ever saw the real Jason Todd. The vulnerable, scared boy who hid behind a wall of arrogance and aggression and walls so high and so fortified she was surprised she had been allowed in at all.

“Why us?” he asked, voice scared and broken and small.   


Babs shut her eyes tightly, still holding him close. Unsure how to answer the question she’d asked herself countless times. Unsure if there was even an answer to be given at all.

“Why did it have to be us?”

“I don’t know, Jay,” she whispered. Because what was the point in lying to him? To herself? It wouldn’t do any good, and it wasn’t what he needed. What they needed. She let herself breathe again when she felt Jason relax into her side, all the fight drained out of him, all the terror and exhaustion and adrenaline melting into pure exhaustion. “But it was.”

_ And it will  _ never  _ happen again. _


End file.
